Old Wive's Tales and Superstitions

Suspend a wedding band held by a piece of thread over the palm of the
pregnant girl. If the suspended ring swings in an oval or circular motion
the baby will be a girl. If the ring swings in a straight line the baby will
be a boy.

Dew on the grass in the morning means no rain for the day.

Dropping an umbrella on the floor means that there will be a murder in the
house.

If rain falls on a funeral procession someone related to the deceased will
die in the near future.

Cigarette smoke blown into a sore ear will help ease the pain (the smoke
needs to be sealed into the ear canal with a cotton ball.)

If you see a falling star on August 10 you will dream of your future
spouse.(St. Lawrence's Day)

If a spider makes a web in a doorway, you can expect a visitor. If you see
one climbing up a thread you will have good news or good luck. It is also
lucky to see a spider spinning a web in the morning.

You must wish on the increase of the moon to secure money.

Your husband or lover will not leave if you wear three stands of his hair
and three strands of yours between gold and silver.

When you see a five-leafed clover, you must pick it and throw it away to
avoid bad luck.

Wrap paper around the tops of your plants and the grub worms will not cut
off the stalks at the ground.

Water dripping from the eaves of a house on New Year's Day is the sign of an
excellent crop year.A lump of sulfur carried in your pocket will give you
good luck.

Whoever removes a ring from another person's finger will have misfortune.

Your bed will not have bedbugs, if you wash it with water in which cedar
tree leaves were boiled.

You can get rid of nervous trouble by eating walnuts.

Your flowers will bloom all the time, if planted during the increase of the
new moon.

You will be disappointed, if you dream of inheriting money.

Always pick up, for luck, a broom that is lying on the floor or ground.

If you adopt a child and mistreat it, you will have a very raw deal from
your closest friend.

If you allow someone to cut the first piece out of your birthday cake,you
may expect bad luck.

If you are crooked you will have bad luck.

If you are in the country and see a light in the woods and you can't get to
it, it is a Jack O' Lantern.

If you are in a bad humor on Monday, you will be cross all week.

If you don't have your house in apple pie order (good order) on New Year's
Day, the fairies will bring you bad luck.

If you every carry a lodestone in your pocket an lose it, you will have all
kinds of bad luck.

If you gaze into deep water and can see to the bottom of it, you will have
good luck.

If you go to a dance with a girl and a fellow comes and brushes against you
before you get into the dance hall, there will be a bloody fight before the
dance is over about the girl with you.

If you have the Seventh Book of Moses, you cannot give it away as it will
always come back to you.

If you have an elephant ornament in your house, always place it so that the
tail will be toward the north and you will have good luck.

If you have something in each hand when you first see a new moon, you will
never want.

If you have a puncture and have no patching, just take some sand and water
and push it into the hole; it will hold for four hours.

If you mock a preacher you will be cut down like a tree.

If you open the Bible and your finger rests on the words, "Verify, verily;"
it is a sign of good luck.

If you plan what you are going to do next year without the aid of God, you
will have a bad start.

If you see a new moon for the first time on Monday, you will have good luck.

If you see a new moon over your right shoulder for the first time, you had
better run.

If you see something shining in the dark, do not touch it or you will have
bad luck.

If you see a star fall, you will have good luck.

If you take a magnifying glass at night and hold it up to the moon, you will
see a woman and a dog burning brush.

If you talk back to your mother and try to fight her, you will have bad luck
the rest of your life unless she forgives you.

If you talk about murder every day for six months, you will soon be hanged
for murder.

If you think about stealing all the time, you will turn out to be a crook
in six years to come.

If your child is taking music lessons, make him practice in the morning
before nine o'clock and he will learn twice as quickly.

It is a bad omen, if you upset a bottle of ink.

It is a sin to mutilate the Bible in any way.

It is bad luck to get mad at the preacher in church.

It is bad luck to try to count the stars in the heavens.

It is lucky to see a new moon while you are climbing a hill.

It is the sign of a long life for a person to see a violet-colored cloud.

It is unlucky to see a shooting star.

It is unlucky for two persons to be in the water-closet together.

It is very unlucky to make a will.

It is the sign of visitors to have a firefly enter the house.

It is unlucky to step on a mound of ants.

It is very lucky to have wasps build a nest in a window or on the porch or
under the eaves or your house.

It is very unlucky to kill a Christmas fly.

Keep a piece of hoodoo paper in the house and you will not be troubled with
ants.

Kill a cricket and its mate will come and cut holes in your socks or
stockings.

Kill a daddy longlegs and your cow will go dry.

Kill one fly and ten flies will come to its funeral.

Killing a lady-bug will bring bad luck to you.

Maggots are produced spontaneously in rotten meat.

Mosquitoes will not bite you, if you wear alum on your person.

Moths flying near cream or milk will turn it sour.

Never kill a katydid, or you will have bad luck.

Place a bottle of ammonia on the floor in the center of the house and you
will not be worried by bedbugs any more.

Place cedar leaves under the carpet and you will not have any moths.

Prevent moths from entering by hanging up pennyroyal in the house.

Pulling off a butterfly's wings will bring you bad luck.

Repeat the following rhyme to a grasshopper and he will comply with your
command: Spit tobacco juice/ And I'll turn you loose.

Scatter cucumber peelings on the floor to drive away ants.

Sometimes it rains worms.

Spit three times when you see a fever worm and you will not have bad luck.